Texas State Coat of Arms

The Texas coat of arms is one of the simplest state arms in the country: a single star, two branches, and a blue field. The 1839 legislation named only those three elements, with no supporters, no crest, and no motto scroll. That simplicity was deliberate. The Republic of Texas needed a design that was easy to reproduce and quick to identify.

The coat of arms appears on official state documents and government materials alongside the state seal. The seal is a more elaborate design that includes the text 'THE STATE OF TEXAS' and additional imagery. The coat of arms is the pure heraldic emblem.

Texas declared independence from Mexico in 1836 and immediately needed national symbols. President David G. Burnet approved the first provisional seal on December 10, 1836: a single star with the words 'Republic of Texas' around it. That design served for three years but was never formalized as a coat of arms.

In December 1838, Senator William H. Wharton introduced a bill to establish the republic's flag, seal, and coat of arms. The bill was referred to a committee chaired by Senator Oliver Jones. The committee issued its report on January 4, 1839, recommending a coat of arms described as 'a white star of five points on an azure ground encircled by olive and live oak branches.'

The Congress of the Republic adopted the design on January 25, 1839. No single designer is credited in the legislation. The olive and live oak branches echo the Mexican national seal, which also uses olive and oak wreaths, though the lone star at the center made the Texas design distinctly its own.

When Texas became a U.S. state in 1845, it kept the same coat of arms. By 1991, however, nearly twenty different versions of the design were in use across state agencies. Secretary of State John Hannah Jr. appointed the Texas State Seal Advisory Committee to create a single standard. Committee member Juan Vega drew the official black-and-white rendering, which the Secretary of State adopted in June 1992.

The coat of arms has three elements: a lone star, an olive branch, and a live oak branch. Each was named in the 1839 legislation.

The coat of arms was designed for a brand-new republic that had just won a war and was trying to secure its future. The two branches say what that republic wanted: peace on one side, strength to defend itself on the other. The lone star in the middle says who it was.

Unlike many state coats of arms, which use complex shields divided into quarters or crowded with figures, the Texas design is stripped down to three elements. That minimal design has not changed since 1839.

Texas did not have a coat of arms before 1839. The earlier 1836 Burnet seal, a star with 'Republic of Texas' in a circle, was a provisional state seal, not a coat of arms, and it was replaced when the 1839 legislation created the full set of national symbols.

From 1839 to 1992, there was no single standardized drawing of the coat of arms, which led to many unofficial variations appearing on government documents. The 1992 rendering by Juan Vega became the first official graphic standard.